for the EdTech Masters Program at Boise State University

Integrating Technology in the Content Areas

Prompt:
Write a Blog entry describing the relative advantage of using technology to make the major content areas (language arts, social studies, math, the arts, science) become more engaging, relevant and authentic.

“Teachers and researchers agree that today’s students need and deserve the skills, strategies, and insights to successfully exploit the rapidly changing information and communication technologies that continually emerge in the world” (Larson, p. 121).

Though that quote is aimed toward pre-service teacher training in adolescent and adult literacy, it can be easily applied to instruction in any content area. Technology is changing our view of literacy and offers tools and information to enhance and enrich instruction in academic and fine arts instruction alike. Where the idea of literacy has traditionally centered on decoding text, the advent of current technologies has expanded our view of literacy to include information literacy, visual literacy, and technology literacy. Not only are our students expected to read with understanding, but also use technology to locate information and evaluate its merits. Word processing programs alone have revolutionized the writing process. Ease of editing, availability of spell-checking and thesaurus tools are just a few of the “old school” ways in which technology has changed the way we write. Technology also affords our students tools (often free), like e-mail, blogs and wikis, which can be used for authentic communication. “New digital technologies, if used wisely, are believed to have the potential to expose students to a wide range of academic language; provide scaffolding so that students can comprehend challenging and interesting texts; engage students in text-based simulations that spark their interests and motivate their learning; and provide a wide range of tools for analyzing texts, brainstorming their ideas, organizing their thoughts, writing, peer editing, and publishing their work” (Suhr, Hernandez, Grimes, & Warschauer, 2010, p. 7).

Technology has the potential to enhance and enrich all subject areas, not just language arts. The wealth of information that is available online provides a valuable supplement to the textbooks that typically provide the bulk of curricular content in our classrooms. The availability of primary source documents available online, for example, provide information that is not feasible to publish in social studies textbooks. While textbooks provide time-testing information, they also present only one point of view. Carefully selected online content provides our students to opportunity to evaluate multiple viewpoints, especially valuable in the social sciences. Further, technology enables students to interact with content in ways not possible with static information. “The [technology] laboratory setting should be looked upon as a critical learning area in which sound math and science concepts and principles are brought to life” (Bellamy & Mativo, p. 28). In science instruction, in particular, the integration of technology makes learning opportunities possible that are impractical or impossible otherwise. “Simulations also offer students the opportunity to conduct experiments that cannot be easily carried out in real settings” (Papadouris & Constantinou, p. 531). Allowing computers to take over computational tasks enables students to focus more effectively on underlying concepts and “multiple representational formats, such as images, sounds, animations, and graphs, … are combined to describe more effectively a phenomenon of interest” (Papadouris & Constantinou, p. 531).

The advantages of using technology to make the arts more engaging, relevant and authentic is a topic that is, as a music teacher, is close to my heart. The arts have historically been under-supported in many schools (Choi & Piro) and the wealth of resources available through technology can be a revitalizing force. For example, in the music classroom, there were few opportunities for students too see and hear high-quality, authentic musical performances when DVDs and videotapes were the only resources available. Seeing static images of instruments and hearing audio only, is a poor substitute for seeing and hearing a musical performance and, with the advent of YouTube, quality content can be found to support curricular objectives and supplement purchased curriculum materials. Use of open source composition software, like Noteflight and MuseScore, provides a free alternative to industry standards like Sibelius and Finale ($329 and $350 respectively, for educator version) and provide students the opportunity to produce musical content using modern tools and technologies. In the art classroom, digital photography, graphics software, and online graphics/animation manipulation are just a few of the ways technology provides engaging, authentic means of producing artwork. Further, virtual field trips to the world’s art museums provide learning opportunities not otherwise possible. “Digitally based instruction in the arts, including the use of state-of-the-art technology, supports the advancement of free and creative expression as well as reflection, and is essential” (Choi & Piro, p. 32).

Authentic, dynamic, distinctive, interactive, current, effective, worthwhile, and free, are just a few of the adjectives that can describe technology integration in academic and fine arts content areas. While the hardware and infrastructure is costly, in most classrooms Internet-accessible computers are poised and ready to make use of curriculum-related resources and tools that will enhance and enrich instructional content. “Technology can be a means to access content on any topic, a tool for thinking and creating, a connection to peers and experts, and a window into other cultures. Multimedia content can make the curriculum come alive and allow teachers and students to explore content deeply—or in brief, accessible chunks. State-of-the-art scientific instruments can support students’ understanding of science, technology, engineering and math content—and help them master the critical thinking skills of these disciplines. Online, collaborative projects with peers or experts in other states or countries can expose them to different cultures and perspectives” (Maximizing the Impact, p. 6).

The challenge for educators is to make the good use of those technologies that are available to us.